Eric Osborne (Urk)
at PAX in 2009.]] Eric Osborne (Urk) is a Community Manager at Bungie. Since the departure of Brian Jarrard and the less-frequent posting of Luke Smith (Lukems), Urk has taken on a leading role in Bungie's community management, appearing frequently at public events and speaking frequently with gaming press/media. Urk's consistent presence in the Bungie Community, sarcastic sense of humor, and distinctive red hair and beard have made him something of a legend on Bungie.net and beyond, and have firmly cemented his place in Bungie Lore. Jokes about "Urk's beard" and his smoothness with the ladies (sorry ladies -- Urk is married with children) are heard frequently. To some community members, Urk symbolizes the dream of going from Bungie Community member to Bungie employee. Urk was an active community member before arriving at Bungie, and was an active participant in the Iris ARG/VMC in the months preceding the launch of Halo 3. Since arriving at Bungie, Urk has not forgotten his community roots, and is not only an active participant online, but has been known to occasionally show visitors to Bungie's Bellevue Offices around the lobby. Real Life *Name: Eric Osborne *Age: 20 something *City: Washington, USA *College or University: The local university *Major: Creative writing and communications *Real Job: Bungie Studios "Breaking In" Interview Um, who are you again? Urk: I’m Urk. Right. Seems self-explanatory. How about a little bit of background? U: Sure thing. Apparently, I’m in the throes of what can only be described as a mid-midlife crisis. A quarter-life crisis, if you will. In the not too distant past, I found myself chugging around my little rut, making a name for myself in the ever-connected world of Information Technology. I had a nice corner office at a bank with an amazing expanse of glass overlooking a dumpster, a lone dying tree, a Wal-Mart parking lot, and an A&W/Long John Silver’s (hastily prepared fried fish coupled with root beer floats). The majority of my workday was comprised of sitting at a faux wood desk with a tie tight around my neck, pushing papers around into neat little piles, and frantically typing away at a keyboard. But there was this nagging itch at the back of my brain. This was a job for me, not a career. Something I was doing to make mortgage payments. After doing some soul searching, I admitted to myself that I didn’t want to work in IT forever. Not for me. So I hit the brakes. I drove down to the local university, enrolled in their Mass Communications program, and pulled a full course load while I continued to work full time at the bank. I chose classes based on my interests, leaning hard into writing programs, enrolling in extracurricular fiction courses, doing whatever I could to explore my interest in creative writing and communications. The rest, as they say…well, actually it’s not quite history just yet. There are plenty of blank pages to fill. Frantically. Pardon me for interrupting your special little moment Urk, but I have to ask, just what do you think you’ll be doing here during the work day? U: Um, I’m going to sit at a desk, push papers around, and madly type away at a keyboard. Oh my God, what have I done? At least I can ditch the tie. :sadface. Too late to back out now, Urk. I hear Microsoft is hiring. We know some guys over there. I can get you in touch with some IT peeps. U: Hmm, well I am Microsoft Certified, but I think I’ll stick around for a few and see how things pan out here. I mean, I hear there’s free Starbuck’s downstairs. I once met a homeless man in San Francisco who was able to subsist on nothing but discarded mocha lattes he found in the trash dumpster. True story. Bungie.net Life Urk joined Bungie.net as an employee on 10/20/2008. Among other responsibilities, Urk (along with DeeJ) is a Community Content Writer for Bungie.net. This includes updating Bungie Favorites, making sure the Bungie Blog is both spotlighting and reflecting the Community, and funneling Top Stories to the front page of Bungie.net. On the night of the Bungie Winter Pentathlon of 2008, his custom Bungie.net title was changed to "Droppin` Blogs". It is currently "Marvelous Bauble." Groups *Average Joes *Cake Bakers Anonymous *Community Cartographers *FAQ *HFCS *Reach Stats API *The Bungie Podcast *The WorkPLace *YKTMTTD Links Urk's Bungie.net Profile.